Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad

Grilled Corn Salad with Chicken — 🌽🍅🥑🍗 An EASY salad that’s ready in 15 minutes and you won’t be able to stop eating it! Tender chicken, juicy corn, crisp bell peppers and tomatoes, creamy avocado, cilantro, and fresh lime juice for the WIN! When it’s too hot to fire up your oven, make this instead for a light yet satisfying meal the whole family will love and take advantage of summertime ingredients while they last!

Easy Grilled Corn Salad Recipe

This sweet corn salad is perfection for us. It’s got so many awesome flavors and textures that whenever I make it, we eat the whole batch the same day.

It’s a spinoff of this Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad, except I added grilled chicken to this one. We’re trying to milk every last drop of summer and this salad is perfect for Labor Day weekend or end of summer backyard barbecues.

Tender chicken, juicy sweet corn, creamy avocado, crisp red bell peppers, tomatoes, and the fresh zing of lime juice and cilantro is what summer is all about. I wish I could find great fresh sweet corn all year because I would make this year-round.

The grilled corn salad is naturally gluten-free, which is a nice score if you are hosting an event or get-together with guests with a variety of dietary paths.

We can eat this sweet corn salad by itself and are extremely content but it would also be great with other Mexican recipes or other grilled chicken recipes, especially Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken.

What’s in Grilled Corn Salad?

To make this salad and the corn salad dressing, you’ll need:

• Chicken breasts
• Lime juice
• Honey
• Olive oil
• Fresh sweet corn
• Unsalted butter
• Avocados
• Red bell pepper
• Grape tomatoes
• Fresh cilantro

Grilled Corn Salad Variations

This corn salad recipe is ripe for experimentation and mixing and matching based on what you enjoy.

Some recipe tweaks include:

• Try adding red or green onions
• I used multi-colored grape tomatoes but other tomato varieties are just fine
• Incorporate black beans for extra protein
• Add cayenne pepper or canned or fresh diced green chiles or jalapeños if you’re looking for a kick
• Add zucchini or cucumber to amp the veggie level up
• Cotija cheese or queso fresco would be lovely

The sky is the limit with where you want to take this salad with Mexican-inspired flavors!

How to Make Grilled Corn Salad

Here’s an overview of the recipe. Consult the recipe card below for all the details:

1. I recommend using fresh, in-season, sweet corn. Clean the corn by removing all the husks and silks, drizzle the corn with a bit of olive oil and rub it in, and add the corn directly to the grill.
2. Grilling it for about 7 to 8 minutes over medium-high heat, while rotating the ears a quarter-turn every couple minutes, works well for me but it all depends on the heat and potency of your grill. If your corn is blackening very quickly, your grill is likely a bit too hot. A little bit of blackening is fine, but too much blackening of the corn can adversely effect the flavor of the salad making it taste too charcoaly.
3. Grill the chicken while you grill the corn.
4. When both are done, cut the kernels off the corn cob.
5. Add all the corn salad ingredients to a large bowl, stir, and serve!

Can I Make This Vegetarian?

If you’d rather make a vegetarian grilled corn salad, you’re welcome to omit the chicken and add extra veggies instead.

Tips for Making Grilled Corn Salad

I find the corn and chicken cook in the same amount of time, but as a pro-tip make sure you use thin-sliced or pounded chicken breasts. 

Those big fat ones will take much longer to cook than the corn and it’s nice to have the chicken and corn be finished in about the same amount of time so that you’re not manning the grill for longer than is necessary and you can get on with eating and enjoying this irresistible grilled corn salad salad.

This easy corn salad is delicious as is, but you can also serve it over a bed of rice or tortilla chips to bulk things up.

You can use this mixture it to fill burritos or tacos too!

Save Saved Review Print

4.62 from 31 votes

Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad

By Averie Sunshine

🌽🍅🥑🍗 An EASY salad that’s ready in 15 minutes and you won’t be able to stop eating it! Tender chicken, juicy corn, crisp bell peppers and tomatoes, creamy avocado, cilantro, and fresh lime juice for the WIN! When it's too hot to fire up your oven, make this instead for a light yet satisfying meal the whole family will love and take advantage of summertime ingredients while they last!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

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Ingredients  

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Chicken

• ▢ 1.25 to 1.50 pounds thin-sliced or pounded boneless skinless chicken breasts
• ▢ ⅓ cup lime juice
• ▢ ⅓ cup honey
• ▢ ⅓ cup olive oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Corn

• ▢ 5 ears fresh sweet corn, husks and silks removed
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• ▢ ¼ cup unsalted butter

Salad

• ▢ 2 medium avocados, ripe but not mushy, diced into small pieces
• ▢ 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
• ▢ 1 cup grape tomatoes, I used multi-colored; other varieties of tomatoes may be substituted
• ▢ ¼ to ⅓ cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
• ▢ ¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely minced, or to taste
• ▢ 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• ▢ 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, optional

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

Chicken

• Place all contents in a large ziptop plastic bag, seal, and smoosh around to coat evenly. Place bag in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight. When you’re ready to grill, preheat to medium-high heat.

Corn

• Evenly drizzle the corn with the olive oil and rub it in evenly over the corn.
• Place the chicken and corn on the grill and cook for about 7 to 9 minutes, turning the ears every couple minutes by one-quarter turn, or as needed so that corn is cooking evenly but isn’t burning. Flip the chicken once midway through cooking.
• After corn is cooked, cut the corn off the ears with a sharp knife, place into a large bowl, top with the butter, and stir to combine until the butter melts.
• Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl with the corn.

Salad

• To the bowl with the corn and chicken, add all remaining ingredients except the olive oil, stir to combine, and taste. If desired, add additional salt, pepper, etc.; or add a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat, or add any of the suggestions given in the blog post. Serve salad immediately.
• Storage – Recipe will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 4-5 days, noting that the avocado will oxidize over time. I don't reheat this but rather set a portion of leftovers on a plate on the counter for about 30 minutes before I am going to eat it just to take the chill off it and that's fine for me.

Notes

In my opinion, the nutritional info is pulling on the high side because it’s taking into account the honey in the chicken marinade, as well as the olive oil in the marinade and the excess oil that runs off the corn and onto the grill. Not every drop of marinade is consumed, therefore the stats are a bit high.

Adapted from Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 587kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 46g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 28g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 81mg, Sodium: 1.282mg, Potassium: 840mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 1.257IU, Vitamin C: 44mg, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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ALL OF MY CORN RECIPES!

Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad – An EASY and HEALTHY salad that’s ready in 10 minutes and you won’t be able to stop eating it!! Juicy corn, creamy avocado, cilantro, and fresh lime juice is a FIESTA in your mouth!!

Avocado, Black Bean and Corn Salad with Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette – Everything tastes better with avocado! Easy, healthy and tons of flavor!

Creamy Mexican Grilled Corn and Zucchini Salad – A healthy easy salad that’s ready in 15 minutes and so flavorful! Corn, zucchini, cilantro, queso fresco and more are tossed in a delish creamy lime sauce!

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad – Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light, bright, and cheery!

Skinny Mexican Bean and Corn Salad – Two kinds of beans, juicy corn, tomatoes, peppers, and more tossed in a light chili-lime-cumin vinaigrette! Healthy, easy, ready in 5 minutes, and loaded with flavor!

Honey Lemon Shrimp and Corn Salad – Tender juicy shrimp nestled in a crunchy fresh salad and everything is coated in an IRRESISTIBLE honey lemon sauce!! An EASY and HEALTHY salad that’s ready in 10 minutes!!

Originally posted August 26, 2019 and reposted September 6, 2021 and August 9, 2024 with updated text.